venpi

Barely Out Of Beta

2007-09-11T19:54:00.000+10:00

Well I haven't posted in a while and thats cause I have been so busy with work. This is the first hopefully many online comics we create.

Captain IF

2007-08-20T12:58:00.000+10:00

Well it’s been a while since I last posted and I was hoping to have some finished work by now. I’m hoping to do a little more with this character as there is nothing really interesting going on here apart from some personal development of character style.

Impossible Dreams

2007-06-22T17:36:00.000+10:00

Drew this after seeing that Honda advert on the telly

UP UP and AWAY...

2007-06-22T09:36:00.000+10:00

Just been developing my style lately, trying to create a more mature look. So I have been working on creating more realistically portioned characters. Using this style I have found that female characters are a lot easier to draw.

more stuff

2007-06-21T10:43:00.001+10:00

Rest In Pieces

2007-06-01T14:07:00.000+10:00

Lemon Chicken

2007-05-17T07:34:00.000+10:00

Have to say a big thanks to my brother in law, Frank for helping me out with the idea for this one.

Man

2007-05-16T15:45:00.000+10:00

the Girl Next Door

2007-05-07T07:47:00.000+10:00

Quickly whipped this up for Illustration Friday, spent just a little over an hour on it. Could do with bit more work. This was my school boy fantasy of the girl next door, in reality I had an old Greek couple on one side and a divorced Maltese man on the other…

Woman 2

2007-05-03T18:18:00.000+10:00

Here is another attempt at the female form, I think I need to relax with my lines and exaggerate the natural curves of the female. I am in the habit of creating more stylised characters with proportions that are a lot more forgiving but as soon as I try to create more realistic characters the rules start to apply. I still think my major problem is my lack of life drawing skills, so I have started to look at real life references and the closest thing at hand are usually catalogues.

Remember

2007-05-01T09:31:00.000+10:00

I wasn’t going to create an image for Illustration Friday this week but came up with this doodle. They Say that fish have a memory of 5 seconds, how they are able to figure this out is beyond me. So here is Mr Goldie and he has a string tied to his fin so he wont forget.

This image also reminds me of a little girl my wife and I saw by the pool while on our honey moon in Fiji. She was the cutest little Japanese girl she wore a face mask similar to that in the image, and little anime floaties, she would just swim back and forth accros the pool taking big comical breaths as she did. She look like on of those cuties anime characters – Hello Kitty.

Women

2007-04-30T14:13:00.000+10:00

I need to broaden my style a little more and lean toward slightly more realistic characters. So here is the first result of weekend efforts.

Spending most of the weekend concentrating on women, I soon came to realise how important life drawing. I keep telling myself that I must make the effort to attend some local classes, but with so much on I always put it on the back burner.

Cold Fusion Powder

2007-04-26T16:15:00.000+10:00

May offend some viewers...

Ruby on Rails

2007-04-26T16:12:00.000+10:00

A Slighlty Twisted Animtion

FlashLites, incense of the gods

2007-04-26T16:10:00.000+10:00

Flash Lites

2007-04-23T11:58:00.000+10:00

Enjoy the smooth, smooth taste of *Flash Lites

And why you’re at it, check out the other twisted animations I’ve been working on lately

*FlashLites is not actual incense of the gods and is not proven to improve appearance, performance or social status. May cause coughing, nose bleeds, itching, burning, vomiting, diarrhoea, leprosy and wild geese attacks.

Polar

2007-04-23T07:55:00.000+10:00

Right everybody knows that you should only drink white wine with fish, so if you want both your arms ripped of try telling that to this guy.

This is an illustration of a Penguin, I know it look like a Polar Bear but is is in fact a Penguin, according to the very funny novel I am currently reading “Spindle” by Ian Taylor, Penguins and are an alien race and they are using Earth as a penal colony. Confused? Read the book.

Baby you can drive my car

2007-04-16T14:41:00.000+10:00

Just a collection of cars I created for an interactive called My Neighbourhood

Before this I couldn’t draw a car to save my life.

Fortune

2007-04-16T09:27:00.000+10:00

I keep thinking of the fortune teller machine in the movie BIG…

I coloured this one up in Photoshop, as you can see I still need a lot of practice with programme.

doodle...

2007-04-13T13:28:00.000+10:00

Just a doodle I decide to play with in Photoshop…

Snottee's Cordial

2007-04-11T08:45:00.000+10:00

OK I know I’m messed up, but hopefully the Aussies will get it!

When I think of green, I think of green cordial, when I think of cordial I think of Cottee’s cordial, when I think of Cottees cordial, I think of the old tune the played in there ad’s “My dad picks the fruit that goes to Cottee’s, that makes the cordial that I like best” only I recall the alterative version we use to sing in the school yard “My dad picks his noses that goes to Snotee’s that makes the cordial….”

And what’s with the moustache wearing Granny I hear you ask, well that’s my tribute to Aunty Jack… again another Aussie reference.

The Incredible Melting Head

2007-04-03T10:18:00.000+10:00

It’s been a while since I have had a chance to do frame-by-frame animation, I thought I’d share it with the rest of the world.

click here to see the animation

SNAP!

2007-04-02T07:43:00.000+10:00

SNAP!

I don’t know why, but this is the first thing I thought of when I first read the topic for this weeks Illustration Friday. I’d love to finish it off but just don’t think Ill get the time to do so.

I Spy...

2007-03-28T17:40:00.000+10:00

Right, this is an older illo but it seems to fit this week’s topic. Just been so busy of late, what with Webdu animations at work and trying to teach myself Maya during my spear time which is usually the wee hours of the morn’ and let’s not kid anyone here, I was never a great student…

WebDu 2007 Animations

2007-03-28T17:10:00.000+10:00

This years WebDu has come and gone and with it the Intro animations which I always have fun working on.

This year we tried to create animations with target two audiences in mind the first being the conference attendees and the other the general public.

We decide that this year instead of two animations (one for each day) we would create a series of short 30 second adverts, turning some of the software into house hold products.

So I finally got to animate in a retro style a parody of 1950’s TVC. Thank god for youtube, my new best friend when it comes to research…

Any how Megan and I both and the rest of the Nectarine team busted our butts to bring you these animations. I had a stack of fun creating them and I hope you have just as much fun watching.

We only have two up at the moment so be sure to check back for the rest!

Enjoy the show,

WebDu Animations

Steve

My Darling Valentine...

2007-02-14T09:36:00.000+11:00

Happy Valentine's Day Bunx....
XOXOXO

Eject!

2007-02-13T13:15:00.000+11:00

Geronimo!

Death of Superman

2007-01-25T08:53:00.000+11:00

Alright, now I’m just indulging. I promise no more Super illo’s for a long while.

Superman Returns

2007-01-24T09:04:00.000+11:00

Okay, okay I know I’m Super Freak! I’ve seen all the movies, read the comics and still watch Smallville what can I say…

Super thanks for asking..

2007-01-23T09:17:00.000+11:00

Although I have a stack of work both personal and professional I just could not resist this week’s topic. Hopefully I can squeeze in a few more by weeks end

My Other Car is the...

2006-12-12T20:41:00.000+11:00

Okay, I pulled my finger out and created an illo for IF. I didn’t put too much thought into it though and I would have drawn Superman if only he wore a mask!

For a full KA-POWexperience click on image

Mask

2006-12-11T13:26:00.000+11:00

This is an old sketch I created after reading The Princess Bride. I'll try and create another on for specifically for IF.

Lisey's Story

2006-12-08T15:45:00.000+11:00

Title: Lisey's Story
Author: Stephen King
ISBN: 0340898941

Mighty Mouse

2006-12-08T13:18:00.000+11:00

Haven’t had all that much time to create any personal work lately, seeing how Michelle Lana, ask so nicely...
Just quickly whipped this up, it’s the first thing I thought of.
“Here I come to save the day!”

I HATE FLASH...

2006-11-21T11:06:00.000+11:00

...well hate is a strong word, it's more of a love hate relationship we have going. Right now though, I'm feeling the hate.
One of my pet hate is when Flash 8 decides to crash for no apparent reason, then to add insult to injury you get the warning message above your unsaved work that tells you Flash has crash and the is nothing you can do about it, so sit back and take look at all that work you about to loose… AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

IF SMOKE

2006-11-06T17:13:00.000+11:00

Created this guy a while back and just quickly whipped up this background up before I left for work. Hope you like it!

Rock God!

2006-10-27T09:11:00.001+10:00

Yet again I was lucky enough to work on a fun little Flash animation. Mushroom Marketing wanted their site to be a little less corporate and a bit more fun, so we created this little character to perform random acts of musical madness. (click on the link below to see the animtions)

Mushroom-man

Pixel Pusher

2006-10-25T12:16:00.000+10:00

Sometimes a job comes a long and your first reaction is dread but once you dive into it you find that it’s actually a lot of fun to work on.

A few months back we created some animations for Zero One’s “Anywhere Exchange” explaining what their product is and how it works. They guys came back to us wanting similar animations to help explain anther service they offer “Nzdrive”

We had a think about it and Frank suggested we do an old school isometric pixel animation this was the source of my dread. But after bashing away at it for half a day I found it wasn’t as hard as I first thought and it gave me a good excuse to research some retro games.

This is the result

Incompetence – Rob Grant

2006-10-20T08:48:00.000+10:00

Title: Incompetence
Author: Rob Grant
ISBN: 0575074493

I'm currently reading Incompetence by Rob Grant, co creator of Red Dwarf.
I’ll post comments soon. Have you read this book, what did you think?

The Smitten Mittens*

2006-10-18T08:58:00.000+10:00

* Nobody likes getting punched in the ring!

Trouble

2006-10-12T08:16:00.000+10:00

For this week’s topic I didn’t really have time to think.
But the scene in Indiana Jones kept coming to me; you just knew that taking the treasure was only asking for trouble.

Quiet

2006-10-02T09:41:00.000+10:00

Franciscus was a silent Brother, that’s what made him so deadly…

Adobe Flash 10th Anniversary Animation

2006-09-28T12:40:00.000+10:00

Right, I can finally post a link to the Flash 10^th Anniversary animation we created a while back! Its base on the real life story of Flash and is full action, heroes and giant evil robots! What more could you ask for?

We worked our butts off to produce this animation within the time constrains but we pulled it off. I had fun working on this piece and only with we had more time to really polish up. So click on the link http://flash10.nectarine.com.au/ then let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Steve Piscopo

Think

2006-09-27T11:00:00.000+10:00

Just a random doodle I felt like vectorising - is that a word? Blah! Who cares my Blog my rules!

Walk this way

2006-09-15T15:58:00.000+10:00

Ha! I came across this early animation walk cycle I created during my year studying at AIM

Run 2

2006-08-28T10:08:00.000+10:00

You may have had a walk in mind...
feedback welcome, especially critical

Run

2006-08-28T09:49:00.000+10:00

feedback welcome, especially critical

Play

2006-08-15T12:49:00.000+10:00

It’s all fun and games till somebody loses an eye...

Design Graphic

2006-08-15T09:17:00.000+10:00

Terri Dentry has written an article based around my Max – WebDU presentation on the Twelve Principal of Animation. The article can be found in issue 124 of Design Graphic and looks some of the things I talked about including Appeal, Creating a Vector Character, Toon Titan, Creating depth with Filters and Fluppets - Flash Puppets.

Flash 10 Year Anniversary Party at Adobe

2006-08-15T08:06:00.000+10:00

Well Flash has turned 10 and to help celebrate the guys from Adobe had asked us if we (nectarine) could create an animation featuring the birthday boy himself. So after three grueling weeks of storyboarding, long days and late nights animating we produced an animation which was screened alongside the likes of Strongbad at the official Flash 10 Year Anniversary Party at Adobe in San Francisco.

Mike Downey the Sr. Product Manager for Flash is working on getting the animation online and as soon as it is I’ll create a new post with the link.

In the meantime Mike Chambers the Sr. Product Manager for Developer Relations at Adobe, has posted a video of the party which includes the Strongbad animation as well as the animation we created.

And if you would like a piece of cake, then head of to Josh Buhler’s site were he has had a cake made with an image of Flash, taken from our Flash 8 Animations.

Illustration Friday: Capture

2006-08-10T13:39:00.000+10:00

Armed with a sketchbook, some personal time, my brand spanking new Intous3 A4 wacom tablet, and Flash, I was finally able to come up with an illustration for this weeks Illustration Friday.

Taking part in I.F. has been the best thing for my creative work, both personal and professional. Having such a shot time span to come up with an idea that is not so obvious then to develop and execute that idea is a fantastic weekly exercise. It has helped me further develop my thought process and illustrational skills.

So hats of to all involved in I.F.

Thank You,

Steve

All feedback welcome, especially critical

I.F. Capture

2006-08-07T16:57:00.000+10:00

Finally!

I haven’t had a chance to create any personal illustrations over the last few weeks due to a major animation project I have been working on which had a very minor timeline (about 3 weeks). So in a way I was myself CAPTURED by work!

This is more an animation than an illustration but by a freakish chance it fits this week‘s Illustration Friday Topic Capture! Once the animation is live I'll post the link.

I’m still hoping to create a proper illo for IF so be sure to return soon!

Cheers,

One very tired animator…

Deadline!!!!!

2006-08-02T08:27:00.000+10:00

It’s been a while since I have last updated my Blog. I have been so busy with work that I haven’t had a chance to do any personal stuff not even a doodle for Illustration Friday.

We have only been given about 3 weeks to create an animation for A big company, so this includes storyboarding, creating new and old characters and animating.
If I wasn’t having so much fun with it, I probably would have lost it by now!

We have hired extra animators to help us with this project and I have learnt a thing or two about creating Fluppets.
One time saver is to create individual body parts and turn them into symbols (which I have been doing for some time now)

Then gathering say all different leg shapes and placing them in a new graphic symbol, along the timeline.

This means that I can work with this body part and when I need a different movement , instead of swapping the graphic symbol for another, I can simply change the single frame number accordingly!

I should have a link to the finished animations sometime next week... if I survive ;)

Steve

Wednesday, July 12. 2006

2006-07-20T14:44:00.001+10:00

Recently I created bunch animations for a

New Zealand

company called Zero One and their AnywhereExchange managed mail service.

They wanted a fun way to explain how their service works… so click on the link (skip the intro) then click around for some animation goodness!

Let me know what you think.

THE LINK

Steve

IF Skyline

2006-07-12T06:58:00.000+10:00

This is my second post for this weeks IF topic SKYLINE. With this illo I just wanted to have a little fun so there is no underline meaning, just me being a big kid.

I found that making exploding noise with my mouth while creating this piece helped a lot so I invite you to also make some childish sound effects while viewing!
All feedback welcome, especially critical.

Shhhhhhhhhhkkkkch... Ka-pOw!!!!

Cheers,
Steve

P.S. This piece is for my nephews, Joel, Ethan, James and Owen.
They allow me to act childish

Nissan Skyline...err sort of

2006-07-08T09:19:00.000+10:00

Okay I'm cheating here, this is an illustration I created at the start of the year and thought I could get away with posting it for Illustration Friday. For IF purposes lets just say that this car is a Nissan Skyline and you can see the skyline in the back...

I'll be looking at creating an illustration specifically for Skyline that has a lot more thought put into it, so keep an eye out.

Critical feedbacks welcome
Steve

RAIN

2006-06-28T12:48:00.000+10:00

Please let me know what you think and why…

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

2006-06-23T09:18:00.000+10:00

Australia has just made it into round 2 of the World Cup!

All of Australia is dancing in the streets.

Socceroos now take on Italy – Go Socceroos

Oi! Oi! Oi!

Dance

2006-06-19T10:01:00.000+10:00

Okay so I only have time to post a doodle this week, just didn't want to spend my weekend in front of the computer.

If you don't like this piece then fine, let me know what it is that you don’t like if you do like it, that’s great too, just let me know what’s working for you - constructive criticisms are more than welcome…

IF Jungle

2006-06-14T21:45:00.000+10:00

For this I’ve gone for the curvier characters and thought I might fool around with different programs.

This may be the last illustration I create for IF in a while, at lest while the World Cup is on,(Carn’ the Socceroos!)

Living in Australia means I have to stay up really late or get up really early to watch the games live and live is the only way to watch it.

So for now all I can say is

AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!

Self portrait of oneself...

2006-06-09T09:39:00.000+10:00

Okay I thought I’d sneak one more portrait in for Illustration Friday.

This is a portrait of me on a Monday morning, mmm Monday mornings…

portrait

2006-06-06T13:42:00.000+10:00

This was character (which is base on a famous painting) was a designed for an animation we produced early this year, unfortunately she didn’t make the cut.

If you've got the time, then check em' out

Cheers - Steve

CAKE

2006-05-29T13:13:00.000+10:00

Cake anyone?
- steve

No deal!

2006-05-25T14:07:00.000+10:00

Something I was working on earlier this year but never got round to finishing

SORRY

2006-05-23T08:51:00.000+10:00

Not to sure about this illo. I had a clear idea in my head but not sure if it’s coming across, I think a lot of the detail is lost due to the size I have published.

At one point I was going to create this a series of panels. Not sure about the ringed background effect either. It may be I’ve just been looking at this piece to long and too hard…

Illustration Friday: Angels and devils

2006-05-18T08:19:00.000+10:00

Man! Busy work week and had to squeeze this piece in the wee hours of the morning.

So this illustration is proudly brought you by lack of sleep and is dedicated to my wife who had to put up with me this last week., love you hon!

Steve

Illustration Friday: FAT

2006-05-07T14:42:00.000+10:00

I created this pic specifically for Illustration Friday.
It took me some time to come up with, as I didn’t want to illustrate just a fat character.

the Green Machine

2006-05-07T14:18:00.000+10:00

I have fished my polygonal modleing my car which was base on the above illustration.

Under The Sea

2006-05-04T09:15:00.000+10:00

Been trying to do a doodle every night, so I thought I create a doodle for Illustration Friday's topic "under the sea"

Tournee du Chat Noir

2006-05-03T07:32:00.000+10:00

Hsi Yu Chi

2006-05-02T09:49:00.000+10:00

"No violence Monkey!"

Super

2006-05-01T07:43:00.000+10:00

Just thought I'd jump on the Superman Returns bandwagon...

And here are the funky lights that got lost during yeterdays car crash

Polygonal Model Testing

2006-04-30T15:51:00.000+10:00

I’ve been working madly away on this rainy Sunday and have almost finished this Polygonal model test. I had just created these funky tail lights when the program crashed! Just a few more details to go be for this test is complete!

WIP

2006-04-30T08:13:00.000+10:00

Been bashing away at Maya this weekend, I’m trying to model a car I created a while back (not quite there yet) using what I have learnt in the two tutorials that I have completed.

Man In Black

2006-04-30T08:06:00.000+10:00

No I'm not talking about Johnny Cash, I created this sketch cause I'm reading "The Princes Bride"

Goolie Doodles

2006-04-29T09:44:00.000+10:00

Last night I hired out "The Corpse Bride" on DVD and was inspired to sketch some goolie doodles

temple of doom!

2006-04-27T17:29:00.000+10:00

O.K O.K I know its crap but I'm sick with the flu today and didn't venture into work today and decided that I should get back into 3D.

This is just a standard tut that I did in Maya, once I get my head around things I'll try to create something a little more interesting!
P.S
I haven't lernt about rendering yet!

Doodles

2006-04-21T15:54:00.000+10:00

Giddy up

2006-04-20T11:55:00.000+10:00

Spider Monkies

2006-04-05T16:34:00.000+10:00

I have been soooo busy the last few weeks that I haven’t even touched my sketch book for some time now. But daylight savings has finaly ended and the cold and wet weather has begun to creep in, so I should get more time for illustrations. This is a pic I created last year

2006-03-17T09:24:00.000+11:00

I am currently working on a piece so for now I post this piece from last year.

webDU intro animations

2006-03-09T09:44:00.000+11:00

After 2 months of squash and stretching, anticipating and good old fashioned hair pulling the webDU intro animations are done!

Cheek em’ out

http://webdu.nectarine.com.au/

Flash 8 Animation Techniques

2006-03-01T09:47:00.000+11:00

Thank you to all who attended my presentation on "Flash 8 Animation Techniques" at this years webDU bellow are some of the links you can check out in relation to the presentation

Toon Titan
Download the trail version here and if you are happy with the plug-in then enter the discount code mentioned during the presentation to receive a discount.

The 12 Principles of Animation
You will find a basic summary of the Principles here.

Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life
For a detailed look at the Principles and more check this book out.

Eadweard Muybridge
This is one of many links to be found on Muybridge's works

Flash 8 Animations
These animations were created to help launch Flash 8

Cheers,
Steve

Women In Progress

2006-02-09T09:30:00.000+11:00

For my next piece I really want to put a lot of effort into it, so I’ve been sketching away madly the last few weeks really analysing everything, hands, feet ,eyes, angles expressions and so on, I’m a long way from finishing but I really enjoying developing this piece.

3 Visually Challenged Rodents

2006-01-30T13:34:00.000+11:00

I hope to create some new pieces in the next few weeks; meanwhile here is a piece from last year. Actually this pieces is quite fitting as I am have great difficultly capturing 2 mice who have taken up residency in my compose heap!

I really would love to get some feedback on any of my work so please feel free to post a comment.

Happy Birthday Kiraan!

2006-01-25T13:22:00.000+11:00

My cousins youngest son turns one this weekend! So Happy Birthday Kiraan.

They asked if I could illustrate some animals for his party. I would have loved to create some more illustrations but just did have the time.

I didn’t get a chance to develop these characters further, but they seem to be working, and I don’t think Kiraan will mind!

In space no one can hear you shriek

2006-01-23T09:23:00.000+11:00

I haven’t had a chance to produce any finished pieces this week as I am still doing a lot of development work so I thought I'll out post some pieces I did last year.

analyse this

2006-01-17T12:50:00.000+11:00

To help me develop my style I’ve decide to analyse my characters. I’m beginning with the female character; currently I’m working on the facial features then I’ll move onto other parts of the female body. I intend to do the same for my entire human design both male and female from the young to the old, then I’ll move onto backgrounds i.e. buildings, landscapes, and flora.

The trouble with women…

2006-01-13T13:29:00.000+11:00

I haven’t had a chance to work on my cop theme this week as I have had some women troubles.
Don’t get me wrong I’m very happily married; you see my troubles began when I needed to design a female character for work. I’ve never really been able to draw female characters, at least not in my own style. I can draw blokes in a style that I’m quite comfortable with (short and stout with no neck and quite stocky looking) and I wanted to apply this same style to a female character.
The result just looked wrong, it was too masculine. So I tried thinning the neck and creating almond shaped eyes and the like. But what ever I tried the end result just lacked an important Principle of Animation being “Appeal”. So I went back to the stocky style that I use on my male characters and tried again.
It took me a week’s worth of design but I’m finally in the right zone. Still needs more development but more or less the style is there.

COP THAT

2006-01-10T12:36:00.000+11:00

I wanted to have this piece finished sooner but there have ther have been too many sunny days to stay indoors!

Both these pieces began on paper and were finished with Flash 8. I've been told I should try to work in Illustrator but I feel most comfortable in Flash. Hopefully sometime this year I'll venture into the depths of Illustrator, I may even try some 3D illustrations but for now I'll stick with Flash.

COP THIS

2006-01-03T09:58:00.000+11:00

So it’s a New Year and the number one thing on my list is to concentrate a little more on illustration.

I’m happy with my animation style but I feel that I need to develop my drawing style a bit more. So here is the first of many illustrations I hope to post this year. I would love to get feed back so please feel free to post a comment.